The Supernatural World of Vladimir and Viktor, Chapter 51

Jill Collins waited as patiently as she could in her car beside highway 44. Clara's truck was out of sight and she could lose track of her. But, she could not pull onto the road because she would lose Daniel the elf who had earlier disappeared to travel who-knows-where.

So Jill called Sam.

"Hi, Sammy," she said. "I'm parked by the road. Daniel popped off to somewhere to get something to track Clara with and I'm waiting for him to get back. How're things at the cemetery? Clipping any carrot tops?"

"Um. Well, they aren't in the graves. There're only three deep holes...with human bones in them. I think the creatures are in Clara's truck, so be careful. I sense serious demon activity in the house, so we're heading up the hill now. So, did you see Clara?"

Daniel the elf appeared in the seat beside Jill.

"Daniel's back," said Jill. "And, yes, we saw Clara driving the truck. Why?"

"I'm sensing four demons. Three could be possessing the daughters. If Clara's not there, that leaves an unknown demonic being with them."

"Okay, we're ready to take off. Be careful."

"You, too. Bye."

"Bye, Sammy."

Jill looked over to Daniel, who now had a box on his lap. "What's that?"

"First," said Daniel, "you have to swallow this."

He took a small pill from the pouch he was now wearing and held it out. She took it, and, looking aside at the elf, popped it into her mouth.

Satisfied she had done the deed, Daniel held up the box and said, "There are fairies in here. Without the pill you will only see them when they light up. Now you can see the real creatures."

He opened the box and Jill looked in to see several tiny round faces looking back up at her. They looked like tiny girls with wings. Then Daniel rolled down the window beside him and held the box beside it. The creatures fluttered out the window like a cluster of dragonflies. A couple of them flashed like a firefly as they flew ahead of the car.

"You can drive now," said Daniel, "They will find Clara's truck and flash to let you know where to turn."

Jill pulled away from the berm and drove, watching for the promised flashes of light.

It wasn't long before there were tiny flashes of light ahead and she turned there onto a gravel road which soon led to Clara's truck parked on the side. The fairies moved off the road and into the darkness.

Jill parked behind the truck and, with her hand on her revolver, prepared to slip out of her vehicle.

"Nobody is in the huckster," said Daniel, "The woman and the creatures are out in the middle of that field."

Jill approached the truck anyway, pried open the unlocked back doors and peered in. It was empty.

With the lack of moonlight, the field was pitch black. On up the road though was a small housing addition and one of the houses was well lit. It had a long back porch which faced the field. It was lined with colorful lights and revelers were loudly celebrating some special occasion.

A column of light suddenly appeared in the middle of the field and the people moved to the porch railing, watching the light blink and moved side to side in the darkness.

Daniel mused, "So that's how it works. On a new moon Clara sets out a light to tempt people into the darkness. The creatures capture some of them and Clara takes them back in the huckster to the grave sites where the bodies are dropped into the graves and the creatures settle in on top of them to digest them until they need more food."

"So, let's go get them," said Jill as she opened the trunk of her vehicle. She lifted out a large fuel tank and threw it over her shoulder, then latched the buckles on its harness. She held up a nozzle and grinned.

She said, "I liked Dean's flamethrower so much, I got one of my own. But mine's bigger."

Daniel pulled two creatures from his pouch. They looked like large stick-insects with beaks larger than the rest of their heads. The beaks were metallic and looked like a cross between scissors and tree clippers. One of the creatures turned its head towards Jill and slid its upper and lower jaw across each other. Click, click, click.

"Cobbler bugs," explained Daniel, "One of the tools elves use to cut patterns for shoes. Their jaws can snap your fingers off in an instant."

Jill brought her hands back and refrained from touching them.

"Okay," she said, "So let's do some damage."

The two stepped into the darkness, headed towards the beam of light.

The light showed where the three creatures were and Jill walked into their midst while sweeping fire side-to-side. Then she directed the flames directly at the middle figure.

Having no mouth per se the creature made no sound but the weaving of its massive body and the thrashing of its root-like appendages showed that it felt the fire. The other two backed away, aware of the danger to themselves.

Daniel stepped into the fray and tossed his magical insects at one of the creatures with an elfin command. Jill could have sworn he said, "go make shoes." The insects dutifully began to slice the victim's skin up and down and in patterns to expose the sinewy orange fibers inside it. Its tendrils failed to pull the insects off. They were simply shredded by sharp angled scales on the insects bodies.

Jill's foe's skin had blackened and steam was released as boils burst open, when Clara jumped on Jill's back screaming, "My chile! Ya killin' my chile!" Jill tried not to scorch the woman in the tussle.

But Daniel was free. He thrust his staff into Clara's hand and stamped it onto the ground. The two disappeared and only Daniel popped back into view.

Jill did not have to ask where Daniel had deposited the old woman. She could clearly hear "My chile! My chile!" from the direction of the party and saw the old lady on the porch there furious and pointing towards her creatures in the middle of the blackness.

She also saw dots of light around the porch flitting about like fireflies and adding to the confusion. People were screaming and swatting at them. Clara had been overcome by the lights and fallen down the steps to the back yard. Revelers poured out into the yard and others tried to enter the house, followed by the lights. Flicks of lights were appearing in the upstairs windows.

"Daniel, what are your fairies doing!? Jill called out, pointing at the house.

Daniel paused and looked around himself, then held up his box and gave several short whistles.

"They aren't mine!" He watched as the tiny beings fluttered into the box. As soon as he was sure the last fairy was back, he slapped the lid down. Then he whistled for his tools that promptly returned to his hand.

By that time the dots of light had crossed the field and were upon them.

"Grab the staff!" Daniel shouted to Jill. She did, the staff was stamped to the ground and the two disappeared to reappear near Clara's house where Sam and Andros was nowhere to be seen.

"Those were rogue fairies, the ones I said came off that ship in New Jersey," Daniel explained to Jill. "I can't risk them discovering these fairies. I've got to get them back home right now."

Daniel and his box of fairies were gone immediately, leaving Jill to administer to the serious burn on her arm. She would wait for the others to help treat the deep hole and long black vein-like pattern on her arm.

Ezekial in Idaho was texting with Vladimir and Victor in Indiana, while listening in on the conversation in the adjoining livingroom.

Zeke: wont have to txt long. dad and friends about 2 leave 4 mtg. u?

Vladimir: Daddy is asleep. We do not have anything particular to do tomorrow so we popped popcorn and are watching videos online.

Zeke: easier if u abbr.

Vladimir: I can't. It's the pills.

Zeke: ?

Viktor: He means Wogglebug's words and grammar pills we take. It's like there's a little person with a book in my head that frowns at me when I don't spell things the correct way.

Zeke: wait

Zeke: back. they were talking about my rifle. one knows its werewolf hair on the muzzle. that werewolf guys name Benny. sounded like they know of more werewolves. they left we can leave txt.

Viktor: Oh, goodie! :)